15 Common Reasons People Overspend

Understanding your motivation for spending too much money is the first step toward taking control of your finances.

Most people never take the time to evaluate why they spend money. While the following is not a comprehensive list, if you recognize yourself among the following common bad spending habits, you can take the first step to bringing overspending under control:

Can't buy happiness: This is an easy trap to fall into, since most advertising goes to great lengths to associate a product with happiness. You purchase things believing that doing so will make your life better. While the purchase itself may give you pleasure, the feeling is fleeting. You will have to purchase something else to find more "happiness."

Lack of patience: Some people want instant gratification. They see something and they want it immediately, regardless of whether they have the money to afford it. They lack the patience to wait even a short amount of time, and therefore they spend even when they don't have the money available to cover the purchase.

Guilt: A lot of people purchase items to compensate for feelings of guilt. It may be that you can't spend enough time with your children, so you try to make up for it by buying them gifts.

Can't buy love, either: "A diamond is forever," but it also costs a lot of money. There is a constant barrage of commercials that equate spending money on your partner to love. If you feel that the only way to show your love is through material objects, you will spend vast amounts of money trying -- even when you may not be able to afford it.

Keeping up with the Joneses: Spending to bolster your image is dangerous. In many cases, the Joneses are doing the exact same thing to keep up with you.